Success Story / Euromaster GmbH / Internal suggestion system

Produce new ideas – Quality made by staff

The initial situation

Euromaster regularly performs employee surveys to improve the employee satisfaction. A recurring result of these surveys was the wish for an internal suggestion system. Until then, there was no system to express ideas or suggestions.

The challenge

To realize a working integrated suggestion system in a decentralized company like Euromaster with approx. 2,500 employees and 320 branches in Germany, exact planning in advance was of particular importance. Suggestions have to be formulated comprehensibly and correct regarding the content.

To implement this process, Euromaster chose the workflow management system JobRouter®. Euromaster was very confident that with this system they are able to meet all requirements and realize an implementation as quickly as possible.

«I do not know how the suggestion system of Euromaster could have been managed without JobRouter®. All paths are clearly defined and lead to a fast and efficient process. We like JobRouter®.»

Quotation Head of Safety and Quality, Euromaster GmbH

The implementation

First, the human resources department met and defined the flow a suggestion of an employee has to take through the company. There it became clear that there are many error sources in this process, from wrong formulation to clearance by the respective supervisor to the selection of an appropriate reward. It was analyzed at which points possible queries and ambiguities occur and where control instances have to be inserted.

Additionally, a bonus scheme was developed to increase the employee's motivation for suggestions and reward those ideas that contribute to the company's success in the end. The developed requirements had direct influence on the implementation of the process.

Success Story / Euromaster GmbH / Internal suggestion system

The result

Since the introduction of the internal suggestion system using JobRouter®, the company enjoys lively participation of its employees. JobRouter® is highly accepted and used intensively. Already after half a year since the system was put into productive use, far more than 100 suggestions were submitted by employees. (responsable S&Q).

If an employee wants to submit a suggestion, he simply starts the "MasterIdea" process in JobRouter® and enters his idea into the free text field. When the employee clicks Send, the suggestion always gets sent to the Head of Safety and Quality (hereinafter HSQ) first.

If there are no inquiries or they are resolved via the Request feature in JobRouter®, the HSQ forwards the suggestion to the respective supervisor and has the instance returned to him with either approved or denied. After being approved, the suggestion reaches the respective department.

ADVANTAGES FOR MANAGEMENT

Creation of an incentive system for employees

The potential of employees is better tapped

Simple processing of the instance

Escalation rules ensure a timely processing

Stronger involvement of employees promotes identification with the company

Increasing success of the company

Professionalization of the company

ADVANTAGES FOR EMPLOYEES

Possibility to introduce ideas and suggestions

Participation in the success of the company

Rewards from the bonus incentive system

Certainty that suggestions made will be actually processed

Just and systematic flow of the process

Automatic notification at important points, i.e. the clearance by the supervisor

In the course of approving it, in a different part of the process, the reviewer also selects a bonus from the created bonus matrix. Afterwards it will all be send back to the HSQ. He will check if all data is complete and forward it to the works council. A final vote concerning the bonus is held in a short meeting between the works council, the reviewer and the HSQ. Finally the HSQ presses the Send button one last time. Everything afterwards happens automatically. For example the personnel department will be informed about which bonus has to be paid to which employee and the employee receives a notification about the final approval and bonus.

Success Story / Euromaster GmbH / Internal suggestion system

There are escalation rules in the entire process, reminding everyone involved if they miss a deadline. Additionally, it is possible to request further information or send an instance step back at any point, i.e. if a wrong reviewer was selected. The respective configuration ensures that no gaps arise during the entire process and that it will run correctly.

The company

The origins of Euromaster date back to the year 1919. After multiple name changes and mergers today's company came about in 2003: Market leading expert in Germany as well as in Europe in the tires, wheels and service sector. Furthermore, Euromaster is a 100 percent subsidiary of the Michelin group.Next to Germany, Euromaster is represented in 14 additional European countries by more than 1,900 service centers and around 11,500 employees and sells approx. 10 million tires to more than 4.5 million customers. Commercial and private customers have access to an extensive network of service centers supplemented by mobile breakdown vans. Germany's largest service team for commercial vehicles also takes care of the fleet business and offers excellent support using central key account management. With its German headquarters in Kaiserslautern, Euromaster is represented by currently 300 own service centers and 15 franchise partners.